Adamawa governor seeks assembly’s approval of N17 billion loan

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State on Tuesday requested the State House of Assembly to approve N17 billion loan to finance critical development projects across the state, especially in view of COVID-19.

Mr Fintiri in three sperate letters to the assembly sought approval to enable the executive to obtain the loans from two commercial banks as well as the restructuring of an existing term loan overdraft to the tune of N7.3 billion.

The governor said part of the loan would also be used in financing the building and expansion of the state’s medical and health care facilities as well as acquisition of medical equipment.

Speaker Aminu Abbas who presided over the plenary sitting, confirmed that the House had received a letter from the executive arm seeking its approval to source loan facility of N15 billion from Fidelity Bank PLc for a tenure of 48 months.

“The said loan according to the executive would be used to finance critical development projects across the state.

“Also the House has received another request letter from the executive arm seeking for its approval to source loan facility of additional N2 billion from Access Bank Plc.
“The loan, according to the executive, would be used in financing the building and expansion of state medical and health care facilities as well as acquisition of medical equipment,” Abbas said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the loan facility was at the instance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and extended to the 36 states of the federation and FCT to curb COVID-19 pandemic.

The third letter was to seek the assembly’s approval on the need for the restructuring of the existing term loan overdraft to the tune of N7.3 billion on Adamawa State Government SRA Account with Zenith Bank.

The Speaker, after the deliberation, referred all the letters to the House committee on finance, budget and appropriation to scrutinise and report back to the house within two weeks.

Meanwhile, a bill to amend Adamawa State University, Mubi, Law No. 10, 2001, to incorporate state character in the employment, admission and the general administration of the university scaled second reading.

The second reading of the bill followed its presentation on the floor of the House by its sponsor, Abdullah Yapak of Verre Constituency during plenary.

Presenting the general principle of the bill, Mr Yapak said the bill stipulates that 50 per cent of the total number of admission and 80 per cent of the employment in the institution be reserved and shared equally among all the 21 local government areas in the state.

After various contributions on the bill by the lawmakers, the speaker constituted an ad-hoc committee to handle the matter and report back to the house within two weeks.

The committee was headed by Majority leader and Chairman House Committee on Education, alongside five others.

READ ALSO: Gov Fintiri imposes lockdown in Adamawa

Also, the House has granted approval to the executive to review the 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

The approval followed a letter forwarded by Governor Fintiri and read on the floor of the House by the Speaker.

After deliberation on the request, the speaker put the motion to a voice vote, which was unanimously agreed to by the House.

The Speaker, therefore, directed the clerk to communicate approval to the executive for further action.
(NAN)